Neighbours who keep the curtains closed and a boy who likes to draw guns among ‘suspects’ of terror hotline

A schoolboy ‘obsessed’ with drawing pictures of bombs and guns, and a neighbour who liked to keep his curtains drawn, are among dozens of people being reported to a police scheme aimed to unearth potential terrorists.

Critics of the Channel Project say it encourages people to spy on their neighbours, but police claim the scheme’s aim is to prevent ‘vulnerable people’ becoming radicalised.

Dozens of people in East Lancashire, mainly aged between 15 and 24, have been reported to police for having either extremist Islamic views, far-right leanings and or being IRA sympathisers.

Police complete background checks on all individuals reported before a panel meets to decide if any action needs to be taken.

Interventions can range from a simple chat, to a complex mentoring and counselling process.

Some cases include:

A school pupil who is obsessed with drawing bombs and guns;

A bus passenger expressing racist views;

New neighbours behaving oddly, including keeping their curtains drawn; and

A vulnerable loner who suddenly received visitors to his home at irregular times.

The information has not prompted any criminal investigations, with tip-offs coming from people in public sector jobs, including teachers, social workers and bin men.

But now police are urging the wider community to report their concerns to the hotline.

So basically they want neighbors to become some kind of civil gestapo that hunt down the strange and odd, the UK is quickly become a dystopian nightmare but I guess that’s okay since everyone will be “safe” and “comfortable” right?

If you live in the UK you might want to consider moving to another country that’s not trying to force feed you a surveillance state you don’t want.